CH 50

Chapter 50: "Ride the Air" Design (I)

The group turned to see the silhouette of a carriage train rumbling out of the fog and toward Wen Village. Three horses led the way, and a mule drew the final carriage at the end, and only a driver for the first carriage. The man driving the train was tall and strong, with three long scars down his face, which made him appear violent, and not at all kind.

But Jiang Shining and the others knew that this man only looked unkind –– in fact, he was deeply amiable... if he was still alive, he could be called a good person.

The troupe was none other than the kind-hearted people who had picked up Xue Xian's group on that snowy day in Guanyin Port.

"They're still here?" Jiang Shining mumbled.

As a proper and earnest rogue ghost himself, Jiang Shining knew exactly how much ghosts feared coming into contact with living people and yang energy. Not many ghosts and spirits would choose to go around in broad daylight –– the exception were those who had been anchored to something tangible, like Jiang Shining and his paper body, and also had someone looking out for them. Even then, ghosts only dared to become active on overcast days or in the early mornings. But this long-dead troupe travelled with no nervousness at all.

It was because they did not know that they were dead –– they had no sense of danger nor of self-consciousness. But how many crowded streets full of living people had the troupe already traversed? Any other ghost would long have been dissolved by the strong yang energy all around them, yet this troupe had somehow made it all the way here with no issue.

"You think they belong to the same category as you?" Xue Xian asked, glancing at the scholar. "I only said that they're already ......, but I never said they were the same kind as you."

Confused, Jiang Shining said, "Are they not?"

"If I told you eight hundred times that you're dead, will you vanish?" Xue Xian snapped.

Jiang Shining paused, then replied, "You haven't said it eight hundred times yet. More like eighty."

"So? Aren't you still bouncing around happily now?"

Jiang Shining still didn't understand. "If they're not ghosts, then what are they?"

"Duty spirits," Xuanmin said.

"What are –– duty spirits?" Jiang Shining had never heard of such a thing.

Duty spirits were neither ghosts nor vengeful spirits. They were created because they had made a promise in life that they were unable to forget. The strength and sincerity of their commitment to that duty engulfed all other concerns at the moment of their death, to the point where they were not even aware that they had died –– all they knew was that they had a promise that they had not yet fulfilled, and which drove them to keep going.

"It's like if you have debt up your ass, but died before you could pay it off," Xue Xian explained lazily. "And all you can think of while you die is, 'How could you die? And why did it have to be now? At least wait until the debt is repaid, and then I can die.' So you find some other way to stay. Understand?"

"What happens when you fulfil your duty?"

"Then you can depart."

But whether the troupe were duty spirits or ghosts, they were now in a highly awkward situation –– stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Both ways are blocked. What will we do about my sister?" Jiang Shining asked anxiously. "How do we get out of here?"

Xue Xian glared at him. "Who said we were getting out of here?"

"We're not?!" Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen blurted out. The crowd of villagers was getting closer to the Xu compound, and in turn, they were trembling even harder.

If we don't leave, are we staying to be food for the spirits?!

"Some invitations cannot be rejected," Xue Xian said, wagging his finger. "There are limitations to all of the spirits wandering around in this village. As long as they remain inside a loop, then everything is normal. But if they leave the loop, then things become uncertain. Think about it. If a nice person insists on you coming over to his place for a drink, and you say no, what would happen?"

You would probably go back and forth a little, each insisting the opposite to the other. Of course, when living people tussle over such a minor thing, ultimately one of them will give in, and it will be fine. But it was different when it came to those who had already died. What if you angered the spirit? Or what if you tore them out of their loop? 

It was far too dangerous...

But the reason why Xue Xian hadn't decided to leave immediately was not because he minded the danger –– if he was really reluctant to delay their journey, then even the king of heaven wouldn't be able to stall him. The reason why he didn't mind staying a bit longer was because he'd detected something strange about the place, and suspected he might be able to find some more pieces of his dragon bones nearby.    

While the group stood by the door talking, the scarred man had already pulled at his reins and stopped the carriages. He jumped off from his seat and paused with shock when he saw Xue Xian and the others, but quickly saluted and walked over. Frowning, he said, "Why have you come here?"

When normal people ran into people they knew while on a journey, they would find it a happy coincidence. Their dismayed comments would be accompanied by a smile, and they would not be upset by the encounter –– they would even try to stay and make some small talk. But this scarred man had never been an ordinary person, and faced with Xue Xian's group, his gaze betrayed a sense of... reproach?

He offered no polite greeting, and seemed downright unhappy –– it was the direct opposite of the warmth with which he'd helped them previously.

Now, a group of men and women of all ages were streaming out of the three carriages. Some went to the mule-drawn carriage to unpack, and others made their way to join the scarred man.

One of the old women looked at Xu compound and said to Xue Xian's group, "What are you all doing here on a freezing cold winter day as this? You should return to town."

The old woman was familiar to them –– the portable heater that Stone Zhang loved to clutch had been a gift from her. She had also been a kind-hearted and warm soul, so why was she now as rude as the scarred man, so eager to chase them away? 

This was the first time Jiang Shining had been asked to leave in such a veiled way. He stood rooted in his spot, embarrassed and unsure what to do.

"Ai –– Renliang, they are all my guests for the day. Come, come, tie your horses in the barn and drink some hot wine to warm up your throat!" Kind Man Xu intervened. He waved at the troupe by the carriages and called out, "Come in, everyone."

Then he reached out a hand to pull Xue Xian in.

"Ah, I've been sitting for so long that my back hurts––" Xue Xian said, grasping Xuanmin who stood right next to him and leaning on the monk so as to stretch his back, thus smoothly avoiding being touched by Kind Man Xu. 

Xue Xian's gesture appeared completely natural and harmless, with no trace of deceit. So Kind Man Xu wasn't bothered –– instead, he switched targets and tugged at the next person, which was Jiang Shining.

Jiang Shining was stunned. This was also his first time getting his wrist seized by a ghost. Just like Jiang Shining himself, Kind Man Xu's fingers were freezing cold from the yin energy that coursed through them –– if he'd been holding onto a living person, that person's wrist might've become numb from the cold, but to Jiang Shining, it made no difference.

"Little brother, what is your name? I should have prepared some heaters. My hands are much too cold –– are they a bother?" Kind Man Xu said courteously.

Jiang Shining laughed drily. "We're in the same boat."

He was probably even colder.

Helpless, Jiang Shining allowed himself to be dragged into the main hall. As he entered, he looked around and said, "Master Xu, please do not hesitate to go take care of your other guests. I can help myself." As he spoke, he inspected the eastern room from the corner of his eye.

"I'm afraid I have been a poor host," Kind Man Xu replied politely. "I have too many guests. If I've missed something, I hope little brother can forgive me. Your humble servant Xu is going to go greet my hometown friends. Little brother, you may walk around as you please."

As he spoke, Xuanmin and the others entered the main hall too. Kind Man Xu saw Xue Xian and paused. He asked, "This little brother is... incapacitated?"

Xue Xian patted his legs. "My legs are paralysed. I can't walk."

Kind Man Xu smacked himself on the forehead and said, "You've come to the right place. Your humble servant Xu happens to have a two-wheeled carriage. My late mother's legs were wasted and she could not walk, so I hired a carpenter to make her one. These days, it's been gathering dust in a corner, and I have no use for it. Little brother, why don't you take it? It seems awfully tiring for your friends to carry you all the time."

Chuckling politely, Xue Xian said, "It's not tiring at all, don't worry."

Xuanmin glared at him.

Kind Man Xu was a man of action –– he wasn't only friendly in conversation. He immediately ordered servants to push the two-wheeled carriage that he kept in a side room out to the main hall. This was when Xue Xian noticed that none of the rooms in the Xu compound had thresholds –– it seemed that when he'd first had the compound constructed, he had done away with thresholds in order to allow his mother to move around.

Just from this tiny detail, Xue Xian felt that Kind Man Xu's nickname was accurate: he really was a saint.

The two-wheeled carriage was called a "carriage", but it was really just a chair with two wooden wheels attached to either side. Behind the chair were two small wooden handles, which allowed the family servants to push the chair. Kind Man Xu ordered his servants to wipe the chair clean, and then asked them to find a cushion to install onto the chair.

Xue Xian thanked the man profusely and said, "Please don't worry about that. I'm not very fussy."

"It's no issue at all. We have many cushions put aside just for this purpose. The chair is far too hard, and becomes uncomfortable after a while. Besides, the weather is so cold, and it would not do to catch a cold." Kind Man Xu was about to go on, but Xue Xian had already settled into the chair and was asking Xuanmin to push him.

"Alright, alright. Little brother, you are eccentric," Kind Man Xu compromised with a smile.

He saluted the guests, then went away to find his hometown friends.

Xue Xian watched as he left, making sure that he turned a corner before he brusquely pushed open the door to the eastern room.

Inside, that group of beggars had grouped together into a tight cluster around the almost-evaporated soup. Earlier, when they'd heard the sound of laughing and conversation outside, they'd feared that it came from some kind of demon bonfire party, and had been so terrified that they'd barely dared to breathe. So when Xue Xian suddenly slammed the door open, the beggars thought they would piss themselves.

The most cowardly of them all gulped and fainted. 

Xue Xian was not offended at all –– instead, he laughed and remarked, "Well, that's far too polite a greeting."

Perhaps fearing that the beast would make more mortals faint with his unfunny jokes, as soon as Xuanmin had pushed Xue Xian into the door, he immediately pushed him all the way into the corner of the room, then drew a circle around the wheelchair. Xuanmin took out a talisman and pasted it lightly to Xue Xian's forehead.

Xue Xian was aghast. What was he, a brain-devouring zombie?

"Bald donkey, why do you have to be like this? Haggling over every cent! All I did was touch your head! I wasn't mocking you. What the hell?" Xue Xian shouted at the wall, where he was facing. The talisman had frozen all of his movements, and there was nothing he could do. He rolled his eyes and was about to launch into another tirade when he suddenly felt something cold in his hand.

He looked down and saw that Xuanmin was putting the copper coin pendant back into his hand and closing his fist around it. Xuanmin said, "This is the part of the village with the strongest magic. Take advantage of it to heal your body."

Xuanmin patted the back of Xue Xian's head, then walked away.

Xue Xian paused to gaze at the pendant in his hand, then asked, "Where are you going?"

He wanted to turn to see what Xuanmin was up to, but with the talisman stuck to his forehead, he could not even move his neck.

The group of beggars watched all of this with utter bewilderment. Even Jiang Shijing and Fang Cheng gawked, confused. But then, interrupting their daze, Uncle Chen and Auntie Chen burst into the eastern room with Xingzi hot on their heels. Seeing Jiang Shijing, they all ran over to her. "Young Mistress!"

"Young Master, Young Mistress, you scared this old man to death!" Uncle Chen said. But seeing that the couple were largely unharmed, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then he noticed the group of beggars and rushed to put himself between the beggars and the couple. "Yu'e and Xingzi have cried multiple times already," he said to the couple.

As Jiang Shijing gently consoled Uncle Chen, Xingzi hurried over to untie the couple. And indeed the beggars really had not wanted to harm the doctors, for even now they were so terrified that they looked like a row of geese. Naturally, none of the beggars made a move to stop the doctors from being freed.

Xingzi threw the rope away and said, "It's good that you're okay! Auntie Chen and I, and even Young Master Jiang, were all crying just now. We were sick with worry!"

"Young... Young Master Jiang?" Jiang Shijing froze and grasped Xingzi's sleeve. "Who are you talking about? Young Master Jiang? Which Young Master Jiang?"

Before Xingzi could respond, a warm, nasal voice said, "Sis, it's me..."